Bible Study for Today

Esther 3:1–4:17Psalm 89:46-52Proverbs 22:7-8Romans 3:1-31

Notes:

Esther 3:4 he was a Jew. It seems evident from Haman’s fury and attempted genocide that there were strong anti-Semitic attitudes in Shushan, which seems to explain Mordecai’s reluctance to reveal his true ethnic background.

Esther 4:14 relief and deliverance.Mordecai exhibited a healthy faith in God’s sovereign power to preserve His people. He may have remembered the Lord’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3; 17:1–8). you…will perish. Mordecai indicated that Esther would not escape the sentence or be overlooked because of her prominence (4:13). such a time as this. Mordecai indirectly appealed to God’s providential timing.

Psalm 89:46 hide Yourself forever.By God’s seeming refusal to answer prayer and restore the Davidic kingship, it seemed as though God was hiding Himself. Of course, the discipline of disobedient kings had been foretold (v. 32). According to the prophets, God would eventually restore Israel and the Davidic throne in an earthly kingdom (Hos. 3:4, 5). Never in the Old Testament is there a sense that this Davidic promise would be fulfilled by Christ with a spiritual and heavenly reign.

Romans 3:2 oracles. This Greek word is logoin, a diminutive form of the common New Testament word logos,which is normally translated “word.” These are important sayings or messages, especially supernatural ones. Here Paul uses the word to encompass the entire Old Testament—the Jews received the very words of the true God (Deut. 4:1, 2; 6:1, 2; Mark 12:24; Luke 16:29; John 5:39). The Jews had a great advantage in having the Old Testament, because it contained the truth about salvation (2 Tim. 3:15) and about the gospel in its basic form (Gal. 3:8). When Paul said “preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2), he meant the “oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11) recorded in Scripture.

Romans 3:11 none…understands.Man is unable to comprehend the truth of God or grasp His standard of righteousness (Pss. 14:2; 53:3; 1 Cor. 2:14). Sadly, his spiritual ignorance does not result from a lack of opportunity, but is an expression of his depravity and rebellion (Eph. 4:18). none…seeks. This verse clearly implies that the world’s false religions are fallen man’s attempts to escape the true God—not to seek Him. Man’s natural tendency is to seek his own interests (Phil. 2:21), but his only hope is for God to seek him (John 6:37, 44). It is only as a result of God’s work in the heart that anyone seeks Him (Ps. 16:8; Matt. 6:33).

DAY 1: As sinners, how are we justified before God?

In Romans 3:24, the verb “justified” is a legal or forensic term that comes from the Greek word for “righteous” and means “to declare righteous.” This verdict includes pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer’s account, which provides for the positive righteousness man needs to be accepted by God. God declares a sinner righteous solely on the basis of the merits of Christ’s righteousness. God imputed a believer’s sin to Christ’s account in His sacrificial death (Is. 53:4, 5; 1 Pet. 2:24), and He imputes Christ’s perfect obedience to God’s law to Christians (5:19; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9).The sinner receives this gift of God’s grace by faith alone (3:22, 25; 4:1–25). Sanctification, the work of God by which He makes righteous those whom He has already justified, is distinct from justification but without exception always follows it (8:30).

“Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Justification is a gracious gift God extends to the repentant, believing sinner, wholly apart from human merit or work. The imagery behind the Greek word for “redemption” comes from the ancient slave market. It meant paying the necessary ransom to obtain the prisoner’s or slave’s release. The only adequate payment to redeem sinners from sin’s slavery and its deserved punishment was “in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19) and was paid to God to satisfy His justice.

“Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood” (v. 25).This great sacrifice was not accomplished in secret, but God publicly displayed His Son on Calvary for all to see. Crucial to the significance of Christ’s sacrifice, a propitiation carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction—in this case Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died (Is. 53:11; Col. 2:11–14). The Hebrew equivalent of this word was used to describe the mercy seat—the cover to the ark of the covenant—where the high priest sprinkled the blood of the slaughtered animal on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the people. In pagan religions, it is the worshiper—not the god—who is responsible to appease the wrath of the offended deity. But in reality, man is incapable of satisfying God’s justice apart from Christ, except by spending eternity in hell.